Of love and hate
by DragonGirl wants cookies
Summary: A shopping trip goes wrong leaving Kurt in the hospital.


AN. Before relationship. Don't know when specifically, as I'm not in charge of the timeline.

It was a surprisingly warm late autumn day, with clear blue skies and copper leaves almost all gone from the trees, in conclusion the perfect day to go into town and do some shopping.

Kurt was practically bouncing along the street with a smile so big that if it was any wider the top of his head would fall off, following behind him was the usual suspects. Peter smiled at the childish antics of his friend and secret crush, it had been almost a year since they had first met and during that time they had gotten closer, but he didn't want to say anything because he didn't want to scare him off, even though Happy and Cifer had assured him that Kurt felt the same way, but he wasn't going to risk it.

Kurt suddenly looked around and then vanished in a puff of dark purple smoke, peter looked around and saw Kurt jogging up behind them with Rose on his back, because she was so small she regularly fell behind, and Peter had to admit when they were like that they really did look like brother and sister.

"What time is it" asked Cifer

"one o'clock" replied Jubilee looking at her watch

"great, who's for lunch" exclaimed Cifer, this was met with a small argument on where to go, eventually Scott interjected with the suggestion of pizza hut which everyone agreed to.

"we will meet you there" Kurt said "me and Rose just need to get something"

"what do you need to get" questioned Scott

"sewing stuff" replied Rose "it's the only way we'll have any clothes that fit"

"ok, we'll be in the pizza hut on the main road when you're done" said Jean

At that the group split with Rose and Kurt going one way and the others in the opposite direction, none of them noticing the small group watching them and following Kurt and Rose.

After a while Kurt and Rose noticed that they were being followed by a group of people

"I think we're being followed Kurt"

"I know, be ready to run to the others"

"ok"

They kept walking silently hoping that they were just imagining the dangerous looking group behind them was intentionally following them. Rose's ear flicked back to track the people behind them, she heard one of them walk up behind her and Kurt.

"hey freak" yelled one of the larger members of the group following them, Kurt and Rose kept walking pretending to have not heard him, "hey I'm talking to you"

When they turned around Rose switched into scared little sister mode hiding behind Kurt griping onto the back of his jacket and peering around his narrow frame.

"Jason I don't think this is a good idea, he isn't doing anything and he's with his little sister" said one of the other members of the group to the now identified Jason.

"shut it Nate, they're mutant freaks, they don't deserve to exist" Jason growled at Nate while still looking at Kurt and Rose and taking a step forward "couple of you grab Nate, I don't want him interfering"

They watched as two of the gang members grabbed Nate and held him still.

"Rose, run, go get the others I'll cover you" Kurt ordered while pushing her back and away from the gang slowly approaching them, at that Rose turned and ran before taking to the air and flying off to get backup. As she headed towards where the others were she the sound of someone being punched and Kurt crying out in pain and Nate yelling for them to stop.

The rest of the group were sat in the restaurant; they hadn't even ordered their drinks when Rose came running in fear plastered across her face and bubble gum hair falling into her eyes.

"Kurt's being attacked"

She hadn't even started to speak before Peter shot out the door, immediately knowing something was wrong from her expression. The rest of them threw the menus down onto the table and darted out the door following Rose who leapt into the air flying to the aid of Kurt and Nate, the only decent member of the gang that attacked them.

When Peter found Kurt he had been backed into an alley and surrounded but one of the people looked like he was trying to defend him, two of the gang members were already on the floor. Peter leapt into action, taking out the rest of the gang members in literal seconds and then allowing himself to slip back into the normal flow of time. The members of the gang that was attacking Kurt all dropped to the floor completely out cold.

Peter's heart dropped when he saw Kurt, he was prone on the ground unconscious with blood spattered across his face from a split lip and bleeding nose, blue skin slowly turning deep purple from the bruises that covered his face arms, one of his eyes was slightly swollen and it looked like one of his arms was broken. It was heart breaking for Peter to see Kurt's face, once full of joy now bruised and bloodied, he moved forward and crouched to pick him up.

"I wouldn't move him if I were you, with his injuries you could do more harm than good" Nate warned Peter

Just as he said that there was a shout from above telling someone to call an ambulance, Rose then glided down landing right next to Kurt. The rest of the group rounded the corner, Jubilee was on her phone talking to what sounded like the emergency services. Everything after that was a blur, Peter couldn't remember a lot of what happened after the others arrived. There were small flashes, the ambulance ride to the hospital with Rose, the doctors rushing around and taking Kurt somewhere, being led to a quiet room to wait for the others and an update on Kurt's condition.

Peter was woken from his catatonic state by someone shaking his shoulder, he turned to see Rose who handed him a tissue, that was when he noticed he had been crying.

"thanks bubble gum" he said using his nick name for her, she just smiled and went back to how she had been sat with her head resting on his shoulder.

"someone's coming" Rose murmured

"what"

The door to the room they were in opened and a doctor stepped in carrying two bottles of water and a small plate of choc chip cookies, she smiled and handed them the water and put the plate on a coffee table

"you must be the kids who came in with the blue boy"

"Kurt" they said in perfect sync

"pardon"

"his name is Kurt" said Peter

"ok, well I'm glad to tell you that Kurt's going to be okay, he's currently asleep and we will be keeping him in here for a few nights but he should be fine."

Peter burst into tears he was so happy that Kurt was ok "thank you for telling us" he said wiping tears from his bloodshot eyes, he felt Rose hug him quietly showing her relief.

"are the rest of our friends here" Rose asked quietly

"yea they're in the main waiting room if you want to go talk to them"

They both nodded before being lead out of the room to the main waiting room where everyone else was. Everyone looked a mess, Happy was sat in a corner trying to deal with the intense amount of emotions in the building, Cyfer was sat next to her trying to calm her down, Ororo was sat next to a teary eyed Jubilee holding a tissue box, Scott was pacing back and forth in front of the row of chairs everyone was sat on, Jean sat on one of the seats trying to calm Scott and Bubbles was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone looked up at the sudden change in temperature caused by Rose.

"where's Bubbles" asked Peter

"because she can fly we sent her to go get Hank and the professor" explained Scott

"how's Kurt doing, have you heard anything" questioned Jubilee

"the doctor said he's asleep but he should be fine, they're going to keep him in for a few nights but that's just routine for what happened" Peter said, the relief from everyone was almost palpable.

"thank goodness, when the professor gets here we can go back to the school" Jean said

"actually they'll probably want to keep us here, we're witnesses to a crime and close friends of Kurt so the police will want to talk to us. And I think it would be a good idea for some of you to head home, Happy you look ready to explode and Scott if you keep pacing you're going to wear a hole in the floor" Rose said calmly, the way she said it made them think she had gone through this before but they didn't say anything.

They sat down on the seats with the others, Peter rested his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands, Rose just sat and stared into space. At some point Scott went and got everyone sandwiches from the café down the hall, Peter stared at the sandwich he was offered for a few minutes before he realised he hadn't eaten since breakfast, he didn't feel like eating and judging from how the others were picking at their food he wasn't the only one, that or the hospital's food wasn't very good.

He didn't know how long they had been sat there, picking at the food Scott had brought for them, but soon Bubbles had returned from getting the professor, traveling via force field had its perks. Peter just sat quietly while the professor and Hank talked to the doctor and a police officer.

"Rose, Peter you're going to have to stay here and answer some questions, everyone else you need to head home and get some rest you can come back tomorrow when everything has calmed down and gotten some sleep" Hank said to the group after talking to the officer

"it may be a good idea for someone to bring some clean clothes for Kurt" said Jean

"already done" bubbles said holding up a large bag "we also brought a change of clothes for Peter and Rose because the police might want to keep you here overnight, also they might mistake Rose for Kurt's sister and want to keep her nearby"

"that does happen a lot, thanks bubbles"


End file.
